The Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday saw heated arguments between chairman Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and MPs from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as the Congress leader Adhir wanted to raise the issue of the vaccination drive for discussion in the panel, people familiar with the development told news agency PTI.
This the first time the PAC has met following the outbreak of the second wave of Covid-19 to finalise subjects for discussion for the current year. The people cited above said Chowdhury started reading a suo-motu statement which was critical of the Centre’s response to the second wave. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Jagdambika Pal and Janata Dal (United) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh said that the reading of a statement is not in line with the rules.
The leaders were also opposed to taking up the Covid-19 vaccination for discussion. Following the argument, Chowdhury said if the panel feels these issues are inappropriate, he is ready to resign. The NDA MPs later suggested that the broader purpose of the PAC is to audit the revenue and the expenditure of the Union government and also to examine the audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) after it is laid before Parliament.